Iraq: a glimmer of hope
93!
Hey, beats "Iraq: boy, are we #$%ed," hunh? ;)
The glimmer I have in mind is neither the President's current short-term escalation gamble, nor yet the efforts of the Democratic House and Senate to put some limits on the conflict. Instead, I have in mind the belated attempts by the non-elected, permanent government -- military, intelligence, ( Read more... )
Hey, beats "Iraq: boy, are we #$%ed," hunh? ;)
The glimmer I have in mind is neither the President's current short-term escalation gamble, nor yet the efforts of the Democratic House and Senate to put some limits on the conflict. Instead, I have in mind the belated attempts by the non-elected, permanent government -- military, intelligence, ( Read more... )
I'm not as hopeful about Petraeus as I know some folks are. He's very intelligent, sure; he's an expert about certain aspects of the VietNam conflict, yup; he's actually been in Iraq for the past couple years, most def. In some ways, I think of him as the Barack Obama of the Iraq war -- smart, well spoken, a "breath of fresh air," but without pertinent experience, and (in spite of the publicity he receives), still something of an unknown quantity.
He says a lot of the "right" things, but I'm thinking that may have more to do with his long years of experience as right-hand-guy to various four-stars -- he succeeded because he did know what to say, to make himself and (probably more importantly) his superior officer, look good.
I do have certain bigotries against certain folks, due less to public evidence of their incompetence or malfeasance, because I've got a sister in the FS for the State Department, who is also "on the ground" in various third-world, impoverished, and war-torn locations. The State Dept. folks who were in Haiti when Petraeus was there for "Operation Protect Democracy" or whatever idiotic name the "operation" was given, feel that Petraeus is a tool -- in the vernacular, to some extent, and definitely in the West-Pointian parlance: a tool used by the brass so their own hands didn't get scratched. A Yes-Man, but smart and articulate enough to repeat the party line in words of his own, rather than merely regurgitating, and put such a positive spin on his words that listeners didn't even notice it was all the same-ole-same-old, because the words themselves sounded so much better than those chosen by the tool's wielder.
Time will tell, so ka? So Nu!
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I haven't seen Petraeus on the teevee, and what I've read in the print press hasn't told me much, either; from others I've heard both good and bad, and I have no reason to doubt your assessment here. The one best thing I've heard about him is that he gets past ego enough to learn from mistakes...rarer than one might hope in such circles. ;)
Anyway, my sole point about him is that having sent him there with promises he'd attack Sadr & company, once there he's apparently cutting deals with him instead, and working on keeping Iran out. I don't even know whose policy that is -- only that it's the best one we've seen in a long while.
More broadly, I meant to highlight the folks in the permanent government who're finally doing something to reverse our slide off the cliff. Heck, even the people leaking details of just how bad the current bunch really is, give me great comfort: not because I'm interested in partisan advantage (and by definition many or most of the whistleblowers are themselves Republicans), but because I think if the truth gets out things will have to improve, at least some.
Crossing fingers and toes (and delighted to hear from ya! :) )
93 93/93 -- AJ
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